Wednesday May 8, 2013

GE13: Win them over, don’t blame them

Comment by WONG CHUN WAI

Intimidating message: In a highly-charged political atmosphere, racial remarks such as the front page headline in yesterday’s Utusan Malaysia can be easily magnified and should be avoided.

It is one thing to analyse how the voting patterns went and how the different ethnic groups voted, but it goes against the grain of democracy when voters are blamed and threatened.

THE general election is over. For good or bad, the decision has been made by all Malaysians who cast their votes on May 5.

The whole point of having elections, in a democracy, is to allow the people to exercise their rights by picking their choices.

Once a mandate is obtained, in this case by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, he earns his right to govern the country.

The 133 seats obtained by the Barisan Nasional is not as huge as he would have hoped for, but in a modern democracy, the reality is that the days of governing with a comfortable two-thirds majority are over. It did not happen in Britain where the Conservatives had to team up with the Liberal Democrats to form a government and in Australia, where the ruling government only has a single seat majority.

In Singapore, where the government is known for its competency and intolerance of corruption, the PAP under Lee Hsien Loong has been losing by-elections.

In the case of Umno, which was formed in May 1946, its record of governance, in being the lead party first in the Alliance, and then the Barisan, is sterling in any democracy. That it was able to lead the Barisan to victory in this latest battle is surely an achievement.

There may have been some accusations of fraud but on the whole, the election results have been well accepted. The DAP has declared it is happy with its huge gains and PAS has said the same despite losing Kedah.

The only exception is PKR's Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who had this grand delusion of being Prime Minister. Bitter that his ambition is gone, he still cannot move on, and is on a campaign to instigate his supporters with claims of fraud.

But there are also those within Barisan who cannot accept the reality of the results.

Yes, the fact is that 90% of the Chinese votes went to Pakatan, or more precisely the DAP. Foolish as it may seem, many of these voters believed they could change the Barisan government. They wanted to punish Umno but ended up punishing the Chinese-based component parties instead.

Not many are ready to admit that they have been strategically wrong and that emotions had overcome their better judgment. Some do not care, happy that they have punished Barisan.

Be that as it may, there are also the genuine grievances affecting the Chinese community that must be addressed, which may have got lost in the heat of the campaign. These are issues that require critical examination of the root causes, not just the symptoms.

But the so-called Chinese tsunami has also resulted in a backlash from the more conservative Malay crowd, who feel a sense of betrayal. Whether this is a logical conclusion or not is not the issue, but they cannot understand why moderate Malay leaders like Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam and Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman have been ditched.

A large section of Umno members are angry and hurt that after what the PM has done for the Chinese voters, they went the other way.

A long campaign, fatigue and disappointment have led to raw emotions being displayed, but cool heads and logic must prevail.

There is no need for intimidating messages and reports, particularly those which smack of racism, whether via the social platform or traditional media.

All media should be sensitive in their reporting. Don't go the social media way. It does not augur well for the country when a mainstream Bahasa Malaysia daily took on a racial slant in its edition yesterday.

In a highly-charged political atmosphere, racial remarks can be easily magnified and such foolishness should be avoided. And we must not get the impression that such antics are endorsed or encouraged either.

It is one thing to analyse how the voting patterns went and how the different ethnic groups voted, but it goes against the grain of democracy when voters are blamed and threatened.

It is no different from PR supporters who still want to stage the so-called silent protest, wearing black shirts and face masks. It's their right but for every action, there is also a counter-action. The elections are over, DAP has won big, so move on and get on with your lives.

Those who still scream about the indelible ink being easily washed off also need to realise that this is the first time such an archaic method is being used.

Even in India, such practices have been condemned but many have chosen to forget that it was one of the demands made by non-governmental groups.

Many were quick to condemn the Election Commission, quickly ridiculing it as laughable when the EC said the ink washed off easily because the bottles of ink had not been properly shaken before use. These same people are, however, quick to defend and forgive purported computer glitches over the DAP's party election results involving just a small group of party delegates.

Losers suddenly became winners and vice-versa in a boggling turnaround exercise. Certainly, it left many in the party shaken.

But that is history. It's the same with the results of the elections. The decisions have been made. Whether it is a Malaysian tsunami or Chinese tsunami, the results are irreversible.

It is more important now for the political parties to be honest with their self-assessment and review their campaign strategies to win back those who voted against them this time.

It is basic politics an election is about winning the hearts and minds of the people not blaming or threatening them.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

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